The London Paper (stylised as thelondonpaper) was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International (who also own the companies that publish The Sun and The Times). It was available from Monday to Friday each week in Central London from 4 September 2006 until 18 September 2009 (its final print-run before closure).

The week before The London Paper was first published, Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Evening Standard, re-branded their existing free lunchtime newspaper Standard Lite to London Lite and changed the publishing time to include the evening rush-hour, a move that was widely seen as a 'spoiler' to protect against the launch of thelondonpaper.

The paper, edited by Stefano Hatfield, was targeted towards young readers, with emphasis on celebrity and more light hearted news, there was little analysis of news stories and the paper used lots of images and colour. As a consequence of the launch of The London Paper as well as Associated Newspaper's own London Lite, the Evening Standard attempted to go more upmarket, emphasising the difference between the free newspapers and itself by adding the tagline "The Quality Newspaper" across the top of the front page, this changed on 12 October 2009 when, after a long history of paid circulation, the Evening Standard became a free sheet, replacing the London Lite. The London Paper was also the home of Em, the popular cartoon strip later featured in The Sun,[2] and the hugely popular City Girl column, written by novelist, Alexandra Brown

It held the contract for evening free distribution in London National Rail stations, meaning it could be picked up at the same locations as Metro in the mornings. It was also believed to be bidding for the larger contract to distribute free newspapers at London Underground stations on weekday afternoons. However Transport for London later announced that the contract had been withdrawn after no acceptable bids were received.

The paper was criticised for advertising other News Corp products,[citation needed] and for containing too much pointless celebrity news in the guise of serious news articles, such as a new Murdoch-backed music website and The Simpsons Movie. Its television listings also included Sky One alongside the five terrestrial channels.

Like the other free London dailies, The London Paper was generally discarded by its readers as soon as they have finished. The use of resources to print something with such a short lifespan was criticised on environmental grounds. Westminster City Council estimated that free newspapers made up a quarter of all rubbish in the West End,[3] much of which went un-recycled, although some stations have positioned recycling bins at entrances and exits specifically for the purpose of recycling free papers.